Evolution / Genetics

Iranian police seize Mesopotamian artefacts

A total of 59 artefacts were seized last week in Varamin, Tehran Province, during a police raid, a local cultural heritage official said.

"The artefacts date back to the 3rd millennium BC," Sahab Pouzaki, the head of the Varamin office of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, said during a press conference on Thursday, Mehr News Agency reported.

"Preliminary studies show 29 relics trace their roots back to Mesopotamian civilizations in southwestern Iran but more research is required," he said.

Pazouki said the objects are particularly valuable because very few artefacts belonging to Mesopotamian civilizations have been found in southwestern Iran.

Mespotamia (Ancient Greek for the land between rivers) was an ancient region located between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, comprising most of modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, eastern parts of Syria, southeastern Turkey and Iran-Iraq borders.

Referred to as the cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia is credited with some of the most important developments in human history, from mathematics and astronomy to agriculture and invention of wheel.